About
Typal Academy was created by Howard Heaton. He has degrees in computer science, mathematics, and physics. While in academia, Howard spent a great deal of time helping other students via tutoring and TAing for many STEM courses both through university and privately.
But, there was a problem. Although great resources exist for people learning maths for standard courses (e.g. calculus and ODEs), such material for proof-based classes is void. This shortcoming is, in part, due to the different nature of proof-based courses. Howard had a brutal transition when he started his first real analysis course. It felt like proofs were just obscure paragraphs about quoting theorems and too much was “left as an exercise to the reader.” The struggle to overcome this barrier and see patterns took Howard an extraordinary amount of time (years). Too often undergrads are dissuaded from mathematics for this same situation: not being able to interact with resources (e.g. tutors) that can help put abstract ideas in forms they understand (e.g. intuitive graphics).
Howard knows this struggle personally and believes one important pain can be alleviated: confusion about how to write proofs. The majority of problems in standard real analysis classes have common patterns that can be replicated to provide templates for thinking about new problems. Undoubtedly, a great amount of effort and failed attempts are required to succeed in math studies. However, students can be empowered right from the start with simple explanations; Typal Academy was founded for this purpose. Since the ability to ask questions is also essential, office hours are held each week and students may also post questions async. Know you are not alone in your math struggles and we are here to support you.